WOW and CoD4 are great choices for their cultural and economic impact on the industry. I probably would have said Wii Sports is the Game of the Decade. It's the best selling video game in history with 80 million copies in circulation, and its success compelled the competition to change their business focuses. If Wii Sports didn't catch like fire as it did, I seriously doubt we'd have seen a Move or Kinect this generation.
These nomination things are so damned stupid. You can nominate a Game of the Year, but you can't nominate a Game of the Generation. You may as well get over 100 human beings and judge which one as Jesus based on their being alone.
Despite that, I do agree with the notion that HL2 is truly one of the best games of the decade. The game does shit that not even games today have the ability to do. It's got some of the best physics on the market and some of the best art and animation, even today. The shooting and AI is bland, but it's still a masterful game in my book.
While I certainly wouldn't have picked HL2 as game of the decade, I'm also not very upset about it. It is a great decade and has had many gamers chomping at the bit for a near decade for a sequel. That's a powerful draw.
If I was to pick a game of the decade, it would have to be WoW. I say this, not as a current fan (formerly, yes) but as someone who has seen this game shape entirely new way of doing this genre. It cannot be ignored that WoW forced all competitors to first find a way to be like them and THEN find a way to work their own ideas in. They have successfully adapted gameplay to match the newest and coolest concepts and found a way to keep the game relevant for almost a solid decade! That is an exceptional feet. So whether you love or hate the game, you have to at least acknowledge that WoW has had an impressive impact on the gaming world. Their contribution alone should have been enough for GotD.
A Valve game won a popularity vote; that's never happened before...
Seriously though, the list was too small and kind of pointless (there seemed to be no criteria, so everyone would go in with a different opinion of what the Game of the Decade should be: most influential, most polished, most innovative, most successful, etc...). But then again, it was just a news stunt to get people to watch the VGAs saying "this is the tenth year of the VGAs, it must be awesome" without actually giving away anything that will be at the event.
I think that Half-Life 2 was a fine choice. The physics at the time were incredible, and not only that, it was a game. I didn't have control taken away from me at all, even during cut scenes. Out of all the choices, I would probably have given it to Bioshock, but Half-Life 2 is still a great choice.
If game of the decade means most influential and important game - then maybe, yes Half-Life 2 deserves that. On the other hand if game of the decade means which game did I have the most FUN with - then I'd pick either a Halo game, World of Warcraft, or Call of Duty. Yes, technically Half-Life 2 did an amazing job with its physics, and never-before-seen visuals, etc, etc... But there's something to be said for a game that can bring together friends to do 4-6 hour dungeon raids, or kill each other online for countless hours into the night.
Eh, i cant think of anything better to nominate for it but i also think video games are hard enough to judge on a year to year basis let alone a entire decade. At least it was actually a intelligent choice and not something dumb.
I voted for HL2 because I figured they were going for "most influential game". Arguably, a lot of the other games nominated in the past wouldn't even exist without one or both of the Half-Life games.
I felt like Portal and Bioshock were also solid choices. Not to the extent of HL2, but still very influential and immersive.
My personal game-of-this-arbitrary-10-year-period would probably be something like Bayonetta or Persona 3... but honestly, I played so much god damn World of Warcraft, that's got to be it.
You and I should pick games of the decade.
@Fredchuckdave: Oh God, was RE4 or MGS3 mentioned anywhere? Those games probably deserve a spot more than Mass Effect 2 or Windwaker (as good as those games are. What were the weaker nominations? Can't think of any.
@thugg1280: Both deserve a the title, I'm not a huge WOW fan but I could see it's significance. Red Dead and HL2 both have pacing issues, even though I love them both. What about games that aren't on the list?
WOW and CoD4 are great choices for their cultural and economic impact on the industry. I probably would have said Wii Sports is the Game of the Decade. It's the best selling video game in history with 80 million copies in circulation, and its success compelled the competition to change their business focuses. If Wii Sports didn't catch like fire as it did, I seriously doubt we'd have seen a Move or Kinect this generation.
Basically this is how I feel. I liked CoD and CoD2, but once they came to consoles my interest kind of faded, but you cannot under estimate the impact of CoD4. Halo also did a lot for consoles shooters as far as how everything is based off of that game now. WoW, well its World of Warcraft, everyone knows what that is. Wii Sports is basically a thing that most people in the 1st world has experienced.
I am not going to say that I am mad because Half-Life 2 easily rates in my top 10 or 25 games of all-time without a doubt, but I just dunno if it has the impact that other games had. On the other hand, Half-Life 2 did launch Steam basically...
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